Out of 120 seats in Parliament, 29 of those belong to members of Māori descent. It seems that the redwash of the Māori electorates sees Labour at the forefront of pushing Māori affairs in Parliament, but what if they're in Opposition again?

Hauraki-Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta says, "This time round it was to refresh Labour because again we do not want to be making the mistakes of the past. We've spent nine years in Opposition and we're saying that we have learnt and we will learn if we have the honour to serve as a government, we'll take all of that learning and fresh approach into the sixth Labour government."

However Dame Tariana Turia doesn't agree. She says, "You can have 20 Māori MPs in the Labour Party but it is the Labour philosophy that will determine what Labour does. Labour appeals to their majority vote and their majority vote are not tangata whenua."

Lizzie Marvelly agreed saying, "What Labour have to do now is step up for Māori. Māori stepped up for Labour in this Election and now they have to pay them back."

Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis is adamant that while the Māori Party is now out of Parliament, that Māori are not poorer for it due to the fact that they have 13 members on their Māori caucus.

He says, "Māoridom have spoken and we need to respect the message that they've given to us all."